The description of art in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention, unless specifically designated as such.
While the present invention relates to hand-held electronics and control modules generally, it will be better understood within the discussion of exemplary embodiments directed toward remote controls generally, and universal remote controls specifically. Universal remote controls typically offer a preprogrammed set of standardized keys for each device type supported. These provide for the common operational functions of the device but do not necessarily offer the full range of features available on the original manufacturer's remote.
U.S. patents and applications relevant to remote control technology include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,515,052; 5,255,313; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/418,091 filed Oct. 14, 1999, which are incorporated herein by reference. Pat. '052 discloses a universal remote control with function syntheses. The remote control comprises driver circuitry for communicating code signal generation sequences including a code generated command signal followed by a code setting signal; and memory for storing information therein. Pat. '313 discloses a universal remote control system having a signal generator to transmit signals which will cause specific functions to occur in specific controlled devices. Pat. App. Ser. No. '091 discloses means and methods for operating a remote control.
Users of universal remote controls who need access to one or more functions not preprogrammed into the unit must then use a learning capability or a feature, such as a function synthesizer (e.g., the function synthesizer discussed in Pat. '052) to add the desired extra functions to their remotes. Other U.S. Patents related to remote control technology, and in particular, relating to learning technology include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,959,810; 5,228,077; and 5,537,463, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Pat. '810 discloses means for transferring instructions and/or data to RAM wherein the instructions and/or data is transferred from a source external to the RAM. Pat. '077 discloses a remotely upgradable universal remote control. Pat. '463 discloses means in the remote control for picking up an electro-magnetic signal from an electro-magnetic signal source and storing output signal data in memory. The output signal data stored in memory may correspond to control function data which may be transmitted to a device to be controlled.
While the above described technologies may allow users to ultimately reach the desired level of functionality, the technologies and methods often suffer from significant drawbacks. For example, learning is generally only possible if the original remote control is available—if the original remote control is lost or broken, a learning system generally cannot be used. Another problem is that function synthesizer codes must generally be obtained from a live customer service representative for the specific brand and model of device the user owns. This requirement to interface with a live merchant or supplier, often results in greater cost. Also, both learning and synthesizer data require storage space in the remote control's nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory can become full. This limits the amount of learned or synthesized data which can be stored. For example, a combination of programmed command sets may be required to obtain the desired functionality, but only a portion of the command set is loadable. The remaining sets may not be able to be loaded onto the remote control because the portion of command sets has already filled the memory. Therefore, all desired sets of preprogrammed data may not fit in memory. Additionally, key legends, (e.g., identifications) on the remote control, do not generally indicate the added functions. The more one attempts to customize a remote, the more difficult key identification becomes. The user must remember where each function was placed.
In practice, many users do not bother to program their remote control. They either learn to live “mildly dissatisfied” with the remote control “as is” or abandon the universal concept entirely in favor of purchasing the same brand of equipment across the board and using that manufacturer's (i.e., brand of) unified remote. This preference for single-brand use has been shown through use of focus groups in which the participants indicated that they owned only one brand of equipment for exactly this reason—difficulty in programming.